"First of all, the downtown station is not on the closure list. It never was. And all of a sudden, the post office is terminating the lease. Before, they told me that it was only going to be a temporary move," Aleman said.

"We all know that the post office needs to save money, but there's supposed to be a process," he added. "They are supposed to announce it, then get the public's input."

The U.S. Postal Service reported a loss of $3.8 billion nationally in the 2009 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

The list of stations across the country that might be closed was narrowed earlier this month from the original 700 to 170. Of the 10 San Antonio stations originally on the list, three are left: Cresthaven on West Avenue, Nimitz Finance on Heritage and Station A on North Frio Street.

James N. Coultress, local U.S. Postal Service spokesman, said the downtown post office isn't on the list but will be closed because the building is undergoing a $61.3 million renovation, and Postal Service officials decided it wasn't safe to stay in the building during that work.

It is unclear when the plans to make the move were made, but the building's landlord said the U.S. Postal Service gave a 120-day notice to vacate the property a few weeks ago.

Irma Solis, who has owned a post office box there for more than 15 years, said she had no idea about the plans.

"I'm stunned," said Solis, 67. "Here, I feel more secure because of the security that isn't at the other locations, and this is more convenient because the bus comes here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they change their mind and don't close it."

That doesn't seem likely, though, because the closing will save critical funds.

Shala Geer-Smith, spokeswoman for the federal General Services Administration, the building's landlord, confirmed Wednesday that the U.S. Postal service pays $20,564.69 per month to lease the 20,181-square-foot ground floor of the six-story structure.

Coultress said about 19 postal workers at the downtown post office and nearly 1,400 post office boxes will be moved to the Arsenal Station.

"The changes would be almost transparent since customers would not have to change their address," he said.

"Post office box customers would have to travel to another location to pick up their box mail. However, it would be closer for some and possibly slightly farther for others, depending on where they live."